How to display audio as a "fit-to-max-volume" mono track

gary-o wrote on 6/11/2020, 8:35 AM

I have a mono audio file that I imported. The wave form only takes up a small portion of the middle of the track.

How can I adjust the display so that the wave fill up the entire track on the vertical axis?

Even if I had a stereo file, how can I just view just a single track or view a mono mixed track?

I'd like to fill the audio track with a single wave form so that the entire track is filled (i.e. fit display to max volume level). Nearly all my work is sync'ing the visuals to the audio, so for me see a large, single, clear audio wave form is more important than lots of tiny hardly visible squiggles.

Is there a way to alter the display in this way to be more "audio-centric"?

Comments

Former user wrote on 6/11/2020, 8:49 AM

You can rightclick on the event and select Channels.

gary-o wrote on 6/11/2020, 9:05 AM

Thank you, I did actually know this but I forgot.

But it only works if a select the audio clips, it doesn't apply to the entire audio track. And it of course only applies to stereo files.

If I have a mono file then these items are grayed out.

The first part of the question still stands - how do I "fill" the audio track with the wave so that the wave fills up the entire track vertically?

Former user wrote on 6/11/2020, 9:13 AM

You can use NORMALIZE but that actually affects the audio level as well. The Waveform is showing its intensity relative to maximum levels. If you don't mind increasing the level, use NORMALIZE.

Marco. wrote on 6/11/2020, 9:20 AM

»Is there a way to alter the display in this way to be more "audio-centric"?«

As a global setting which then affects all audio tracks: Yes.

Shift+Arrow Up will zoom-in your track waveform display.

rraud wrote on 6/11/2020, 9:28 AM

You can make the audio track larger by dragging the of the track header downward. However If the files amplitude is low, it will not make the waveform larger (louder), so confirm that normalize is enabled and set to -0.1 dBFS (Right-click the audio event, select Properties and check-mark the Normalize box). However VP uses peak normalize, so if there is one loud peak in the event, the amplitude may not be increased by much or at all. In that case, you could add an appropriate volume envelope or use a peak limiter/maximizer like Sound Forge's WaveHammer or the free LoudMax VST plug-in. Then render that audio to a new track.. in the Tools menu.

gary-o wrote on 6/11/2020, 8:29 PM

»Is there a way to alter the display in this way to be more "audio-centric"?«

As a global setting which then affects all audio tracks: Yes.

Shift+Arrow Up will zoom-in your track waveform display.

Thank you, Marco, this is exactly what I was looking for.

 

(Dot and Maud: I didn't want to alter the audio itself - just increase the wave display. I didn't think to use the term "zoom in". Increasing the track size does make the entire wave look bigger, but at the expense of valuable screen real estate, and I try to keep all my tracks visible without having to scroll up & down. In fact, the audio track needn't be wide at all, one just has to see enough of the waveform as a visual guide to sync'ing the video clips above.)

Former user wrote on 6/11/2020, 8:59 PM

I didn't think you did.